Cultivars performance and blackberry pruning management

Abstract

There was increased fruit consumption with potential health benefits in the last years, being blackberry one of these fruits. The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance of Blackberry cultivars and the influence of main stem management on BRS-Tupy cultivar. The first experiment assessed the cultivars: BRS-Tupy, Cherokee, Xavante, and Guarani; in the second experiment the evaluated prunings were: drastic winter pruning, 2, 3, and 4 main primocanes. The variables analyzed were: green and dry leaf mass, leaf area, number and average fruit mass, production per plant, average size and percentage of fruit moisture, and soluble solids. In relation to average weight, fruit size and yield, BRS-Tupy cultivar was superior in both cycles evaluated. As for soluble solids the Cherokee cultivar was superior, but only in the 2016/17 cycle. In the second experiment, in terms of number of fruits and production, pruning of 4 primocanes in the 2016/17 cycle was superior, but in the next cycle the pruning of 3 primocanes equaled it in the production variable. The drastic pruning in these variables is shown to be lower in the two cycles evaluated. Concerning the variable size of fruit, a significant difference was found only in the 2017/18 cycle, where drastic pruning presented smaller fruits. Thus, it can be concluded that, in general, BRS-Tupy cultivar presents the best productive results and that pruning with 4 primocanes initially stands out alone.